The University of Cantabria (UC) reversed itself on the content of the new selectivity and chose to delete the list of 40 characters from the subject of History of Spain in which it included only one woman, at namely Queen Isabel II. And he did it during a coordination meeting with teachers, a few days after elDiario.es published the aforementioned provisional document in which female figures were ignored.
Thus, as the academic institution confirmed to this newspaper, during the meeting held last Monday by the coordinators of Spanish History of the University Entrance Test (PAU) “it was agreed to replace the list of the 40 characters by another of historical events. and conditions. »
The truth is that, as elDiario.es was able to verify from other sources, these two lists were already present in the provisional content, so now it has gone from three to two documents, thus eliminating the text that makes the object of controversy. On this subject, the University of Cantabria has not given any further explanations. It also did not refer to gender perspective, a skill that by law must be included in the content, nor did it explain what the elimination of this list means when teachers prepare for the test and the students.
He only referred to what happened during the coordination meeting. “These meetings, in which one teacher per center participates, serve to discuss the contents and, by consensus, this substitution was decided,” declared the UC through its press service. “The rest of the content was also agreed by consensus,” the university emphasized. The fact is that, as this media has learned, there is discontent among some teachers of this subject, both on the themes chosen and on the way in which they are applied.
One of the main complaints concerns the fact that issues as important for contemporary Spain as Spain’s role in slavery in the 19th century, the repression and exile of Franco or the law of historical memory and democracy continue to be left aside.
These are also subjects that are included in the current National Education Law, LOMLOE, a regulation to which the exam has sought to adapt with the changes introduced this academic year 2024-2025. The objective was to move away from the criteria of the previous law (the LOMCE), which were more focused on content, to adapt them to the principles of competence established by the current law. The difference is knowing something (content) and how to apply it in specific situations (skill).
And precisely, according to consulted sources, the model implemented by the Ministry of Education led by Sergio Silva (PP), maintains “the learning standards of the previous law”, the one approved by Minister Wert under the government by Mariano Rajoy. The emphasis is placed on the themes of “memory”, they deplore. “This was done by imposition,” denounce other sources in conversation with this media, who also point out that the contents are being defined in mid-November, the process is already well underway.
On the other hand, among the modifications adopted after the meeting held this Monday, and contrary to the absence of the themes mentioned above, it is striking that it was included among the 24 short themes to be developed – 12 from the 19th century and 12 others from the 20th – one entitled “The Church as opposition to Francoism since the 1960s”, ignoring that precisely the Church as an institution was the ideological support of the dictatorship.
